Just Saying

Monday, 23 December 2013

A Teddy Bear Love Story Chapter-3

Nothing lasts forever. I am very familiar to this quote. We
all are. This quote is a clear lie. Everything lasts somewhere, in the chaos of
time. What we have today is what we will always have in our past. It would not
destroy. It will last forever.

That day was the last day of our story; an incomplete story.
I was all alone on the last bench, where I saw her alone once. I peeped out of
the classroom and went down the memory lane. We had spent enough time with each
other to miss each other. I already did, maybe she did too.

“Your name is just like our friendship,” I smiled to her. It
was last to last week when we were having our lunch.

“My name...?”

“Yes, Anantika, means forever. So is our friendship.”

Sad part was, her name was still there, but our friendship
was not. I did not even know what happened in last one week. I did not even
know the reason of ending this. I went to her for the answer. I needed an
answer. I had no problem in ending the friendship. As she could not steal what
I had, my memories. However, I just needed an answer.

“What is the problem?” I was standing next to her seat.

“I am the problem,” Her milky eyes welled up and she turned
her face to the other side.

“What does it means?”

“Tell me straightly, we will find the solution.” I was
worried. What does it meant that she was a problem.

“There is just one solution, getting apart.”

“Why? I need to know what happened last week and you will
tell me, else I won’t move an inch.”

“I don’t know…”

“We are friends and you need to be truthful to me.”

She looked at me, took a deep breath, and started answering, “Last week after going home. I had a serious headache. I told the same to
my mother and she gave me a tablet from our medical kit. I took it and sleep. I
did not even play with my teddy bear than evening. When I wake up, it was night
outside my window. The headache was severe now. I started crying, I had no
option left. My mother came quickly from kitchen and took me in her lap. Her
warm hug always made me okay, that day was exception. I kept crying and she kept
comforting me with her hand on my forehead.

We have no vehicle at home. She called a taxi and took me to the nearest hospital. They checked me and gave me another bunch of
tablets. We returned home and I took the tablets. They made me sleep. I closed
my eyes and few minutes later, the headache was gone. I was relieved to my
dreams.

Morning was nothing new. The pain I was going through increased.
I opened my eyes with sobs. My mother repeated the same thing. This time she
took me to a big hospital. It was cleaner and looked nice as compared to
previous one. She looked at my eyes and said there is some problem with my
eyes."

“Problem with your eyes?” I looked at them. They were beautiful
and there was no problem. She looked back and tear trickled down her eyes.

“Please don’t cry. There is no problem in your eyes,”

“Doctor said there was something wrong and he had to do some
tests. I always got full marks in tests. I thought I would clear that test
easily. I looked at my mother and smiled. She seemed to be nervous but seeing
me smile brought a smile on her face too. They took my test and it was
something different. They did it with machines over my eyes. I got scared and I
think I didn’t perform well. The answer sheet doctor gave to my mother made her
cry. I started crying too that I disappointed my mother. I was sorry to her but
she hugged me tightly and said that she was sorry. I had no idea, why was she
sorry? It was my test. I failed and, it was I, who was sorry. I thought to work
harder next time they take my exam. I had my headache, I couldn’t give my test
well, that’s why I failed.”

“These tests are different from our school tests you dumb,”
I smiled and corrected her.

“Sorry,”

Therefore, that was the reason she was not sitting with me.
She was taking this study thing too seriously, I thought.

“Everything is clear now, can we sit together now?” I asked.

“Wait. Next day, again my mother took me to the hospital.
They gave me some injections and my headache was gone. I was happy but my
mother was not. She kept looking at the answer sheet.”

“What answer sheet. You know what was written in it?”

“I asked my mother. She said that 'we need a lot of money.' Maybe I
performed that bad in exam. I started crying in the corridor of hospital. I was
ashamed and guilty for failing. She kept telling me that it was not my fault
but I didn’t buy it. I knew somewhere that the fault was mine.”

I listened to her and smiled, “Money, what is the problem with money? When my mom or I
need money, we go to dad. Dad just asks how much and gives us the money. So
everything solved. Now, can we go back to our seat?”

“I have no dad,” Another tear hit her frock which origin
from her eyes. The helplessness was back in her eyes, in her tears.

I felt bad. What if I had no dad? I possibly cannot think my
life without that one had I hold while crossing the road, the hand that saves me
from not falling from bicycle, the hand that pushes the swing in park. I tried to feel her pain, I couldn't. I had dad. A single thought of losing him made me cry. What if he wasn't there?

I had no reply.

I tried to change the topic. I smiled and smiled. Then I got a question in my mind. “How many marks did you got in
the tests?”

“There were no marks in numbers. There was just few
alphabets.” She wiped and came back to normal.